George Browne (May 4, 1920 – March 23, 2007), better known as the Young Tig… Read Full Bio ↴George Browne (May 4, 1920 – March 23, 2007), better known as the Young Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypso musician.
Born Edric Browne in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, where his childhood was imbued with the African traditions of Shango and Spiritual Baptist Shouting, he assumed the name George E. Browne in homage to the family friend, Richard E. Braithwaite, whose library introduced him to works of black history and activism.
Browne joined a Norwegian tanker at the age of 20 and, after a brief stay in Australia, signed off in Scotland in 1941. After befriending other expatriate Trinidadians in Glasgow he relocated to London and began to earn his living as a musician. In 1947-8 he co-founded (with Bermudian Ken Gordon, uncle of newsreader Moira Stuart) the Three Just Men group and toured in Europe and North Africa with the trio the following year.
He inherited the name Young Tiger from the calypsonian Growling Tiger when in 1953 he recorded a cover version of Tiger's song "Single Man". Young Tiger's hits dating from that same year include "Calypso Be" and "I Was There" - the latter being his observations about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - and "Mamzelle Josephine". Subsequently embracing jazz music, he recorded with a number of bands, including Humphrey Lyttelton's Paseo Jazz Band. In the 1960s he pursued an acting career for a time - he played the role of Jesus Christ in a passion play produced at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal in 1966 - and in 1970 he gave up music to open a London restaurant and health club with his then wife. When that was forced to close because of rent increases, they moved to the USA, where for a time they had restaurants in Florida and California.
He returned to the UK in the late 1980s, living in retirement in Croydon. His calypso "I Was There" featured on the 2002 Honest Jon compilation London Is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950-1956. Following the re-release of his "Calypso Be" on London Is the Place for Me, Vol. 2 (November 2005), Browne played at the BBC "Electric Proms" festival in 2006, performing a few songs together with the London is the Place for Me Allstars.
Born Edric Browne in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, where his childhood was imbued with the African traditions of Shango and Spiritual Baptist Shouting, he assumed the name George E. Browne in homage to the family friend, Richard E. Braithwaite, whose library introduced him to works of black history and activism.
Browne joined a Norwegian tanker at the age of 20 and, after a brief stay in Australia, signed off in Scotland in 1941. After befriending other expatriate Trinidadians in Glasgow he relocated to London and began to earn his living as a musician. In 1947-8 he co-founded (with Bermudian Ken Gordon, uncle of newsreader Moira Stuart) the Three Just Men group and toured in Europe and North Africa with the trio the following year.
He inherited the name Young Tiger from the calypsonian Growling Tiger when in 1953 he recorded a cover version of Tiger's song "Single Man". Young Tiger's hits dating from that same year include "Calypso Be" and "I Was There" - the latter being his observations about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - and "Mamzelle Josephine". Subsequently embracing jazz music, he recorded with a number of bands, including Humphrey Lyttelton's Paseo Jazz Band. In the 1960s he pursued an acting career for a time - he played the role of Jesus Christ in a passion play produced at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal in 1966 - and in 1970 he gave up music to open a London restaurant and health club with his then wife. When that was forced to close because of rent increases, they moved to the USA, where for a time they had restaurants in Florida and California.
He returned to the UK in the late 1980s, living in retirement in Croydon. His calypso "I Was There" featured on the 2002 Honest Jon compilation London Is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950-1956. Following the re-release of his "Calypso Be" on London Is the Place for Me, Vol. 2 (November 2005), Browne played at the BBC "Electric Proms" festival in 2006, performing a few songs together with the London is the Place for Me Allstars.
I Was There YOUNG TIGER
Young Tiger Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Young Tiger:
Calypso Be This modern music's got me confused, To tell you friends I'…
I Was There Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
I Was There (At the Coronation) Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
I Was There At The Coronation Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@alfredtheamazing
Listening to this today on the day of Charles' coronation!
@alanndevuyst6681
My father from Belgium was there too. Took the ferry all the way and then the train to London. I am so glad I found this song here thanks to an article in The Guardian today on Charles III coming coronation. I had heard it for the first time in 2003 on a Cambodian radio station, and began recording it after the first verse...but that cassette got lost, yet the refrains stuck in my head forever. I was there...
@aproragadozo2
Thank you for sharing this memory, and happy to have helped finding this song. Enjoy!
@SHEARMINATOR
GOD bless the queen of England R.I.P
@F1fan56
I love those old calypsos. That was tremendous!
@Madbrad2000
History right here.
@titobeats6276
hits differently now huh?
@aproragadozo2
Quite, post-Brexit especially.
@brigitteazocar942
Me encanta esta canción. Divina.
@jameswest7141
Quality tune, real main room banger!